ASSIGNMENT OF APPLICATION MODULESTO DEPLOYMENT TARGETS

• US 20090112966A1
• Filed: 10/26/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Pogrebinsky, Vladimir, Eshner, Daniel, Bhaskara, Udaya Kumar, Johnson, Benjamin George, Panditharadhya, Nagalinga Durga
• Granted Patent: US 8,087,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A distributed application deployment engine uses declarative deployment data that describes deployment characteristics for application modules, and potential target environments. The engine uses the deployment data to potentially match a module to a deployment target. At some point, the modules may then be actually deployed on the identified deployment target. This may be performed for multiple modules in the distributed application, thereby deploying the distributed application in a distributed environment.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon one or more computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, the computing system implements a distributed application deployment engine that is configured to perform the following for each of a plurality of modules of a distributed application:

an act of accessing declarative deployment data for the module;

an act of accessing declarative deployment data for a plurality of deployment targets; and

an act automatically performing a matching operation for the module using the declarative deployment data for the module and the declarative deployment data for a plurality of deployment targets, wherein the matching operation results in zero or more resultant matches between the module and a corresponding one of the plurality of deployment targets.

2. A computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-readable media are physical media.

3. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system and if there is one resultant match, the computing system is further configured to perform an act of causing the module to be deployed on the matched deployment target.

4. A computer program product in accordance with claim 3, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, the computing system is caused to redeploy the application program by performing the following:

an act of identifying that a redeployment event has occurred; and

upon determining that a redeployment event has occurred, performing the following for each of the plurality of modules in the distributed application;

an act of accessing declarative redeployment data for the module;

an act of accessing declarative redeployment data for a plurality of redeployment targets; and

an act automatically performing a matching operation for the module using the declarative redeployment data for the module and the declarative redeployment data for a plurality of deployment targets to thereby result in a redeployment target that matches the module; and

an act of causing the module to be redeployed on the matched redeployment target.

5. A computer program product in accordance with claim 4, wherein the redeployment event is user-initiated.

6. A computer program product in accordance with claim 4, wherein the redeployment event is detected without involving a user-initiated process.

7. A computer program product in accordance with claim 1, wherein the deployment target includes a combination of a physical machine and a runtime.

8. A computer program product in accordance with claim 7, wherein the deployment data for each deployment target describes at least one characteristic of the physical machine and at least one characteristic of a runtime present on the physical machine.

9. A computer program product in accordance with claim 8, wherein the at least one characteristic of the physical machine includes at least one of a computer model, a number of processors, a processor speed, an available memory, an available disk space, a memory access speed, or a disk access speed.

10. A computer program product in accordance with claim 8, wherein the at least one characteristic of the runtime includes at least one of a technology type supported by the runtime, a version of the runtime, or a clustering support status for the runtime.

11. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the as declarative deployment data for at least one of the modules identifies a physical machine that the module is to be deployed on, whereas the declarative deployment data for at least others of the modules does not expressly identify a physical machine that the module is to be deployed on.

12. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the declarative deployment data for one of the modules specifies that the module is to be deployed on a different physical machine than another identified module.

13. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the declarative deployment data for one of the modules specifies that the module is to be deployed on the same physical machine as another identified module.

14. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the declarative deployment data for one of the plurality of deployment environment specifies that the total processing power used by all of the modules on a particular machine is to remain below a particular level.

15. A computer program product in accordance with claim 2, wherein the declarative deployment data for one of the plurality of deployment environment specifies that the total memory used by all of the modules on a particular machine is to remain below a particular level.

16. A computer program product comprising one or more physical computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that are structured such that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, the computing system implements a distributed application deployment engine that is configured to perform the following for each of a plurality of modules of a distributed application:

an act of accessing declarative deployment data for the module, the declarative deployment data for the module describing a plurality of deployment requirements for the module;

an act of accessing declarative deployment data for a plurality of deployment targets using the declarative deployment data for the module and the declarative deployment data for a plurality of deployment targets, each deployment target including a combination of a physical machine and a corresponding group of one or more runtimes that are present on the physical machine, the deployment data for each deployment target describing at least one characteristic of the physical machine and at least one characteristic of a runtime present on the physical machine;

an act automatically performing a matching operation for the module, wherein the matching operation may result in a plurality of resultant matches between the module and a corresponding one of the plurality of deployment targets;

if the matching operation results in a plurality of resultant matches, an act of ranking the resultant matches.

17. A computer program product in accordance with claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further structured such that, when executed by the one or more processors, the computing system further performs the following:

an act of automatically selecting a best match based on the ranking of the resultant matches.

18. A computer-implemented method for deploying a distributed application having multiple modules in a distributed environment, the method comprising:

an act automatically performing a matching operation for the module using declarative deployment data for the module and declarative deployment data for a plurality of deployment targets, wherein the matching operation results in at least one resultant match between the module and a corresponding one of the plurality of deployment targets; and

an act of automatically causing the module to be deployed on the matched deployment target.

19. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 18, wherein the act of automatically causing the module to be deployed comprises:

an act of altering a property of the module to specify the deployment target; and

an act of using the property to identify where the module should be deployed; and

an act of installing and configuring the module in the specified deployment target specified by the altered property of the module.

20. The computer-implemented method in accordance with claim 18, further comprising:

an act of identifying that a redeployment event has occurred; and

upon determining that a redeployment event has occurred, performing the following for each of the plurality of modules in the distributed application;

an act of accessing declarative redeployment data for the module;

an act of accessing declarative redeployment data for a plurality of redeployment targets; and

an act automatically performing a matching operation for the module using the declarative redeployment data for the module and the declarative redeployment data for a plurality of deployment targets to thereby result in a redeployment target that matches the module; and

an act of causing the module to be redeployed on the matched redeployment target.